Moroccan employer fires sister of Western Saharan rights activist
06/06/2008 | Newsletter
Ms Aminatou AMIDANE (alias Mallak), sister of the Western Saharan political prisoner Mr. Elwali AMIDANE, has been arbitrarily expulsed from work as an illiteracy teacher with Across Maroc Association.
Across Maroc is a Portuguese Association which has branches in Morocco and some other African countries. It has recently opened branches in Western Sahara cities: El-Ayoune and Dakhla. It works in the field of illiteracy and education of foreign languages.
Ms AMIDANE has stated that she applied to the Ministry of National Education of Morocco two years ago as a teacher. After accepting her file she joined the above-mentioned association, which is headed by an Italian citizen of Brazilian origin.
Ms AMIDANE said in her testimony that after three months of work a Moroccan intelligence officer was surprised to discover Ms Amindane working for the association, which is located behind the Hotel Negjir (El-Ayoune, Western Sahara). He then inquired about her relationship with the association. Later, pressure was applied on the association to sever its ties with Ms AMIDANE.
Eventually, Ms AMIDANE was summoned to headquarters of the delegation of the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, where she was accused of working with foreigners to serve the « separatist » issue (ie, Western Saharan independence). She was threatened if she insisted to continue her work.
Finally, Ms AMIDANE added that her salary, about 80 American dollars, had been stopped by the Moroccan authorities. While the President of the Across Maroc association expressed sympathy and promised to pay one more month salary, she could no longer withstand the pressure exerted by the Moroccan authorities.
